Small Talk: We'll Be Right Back

[janie jones]

1 hour ago, ShutUpLutz said:

When my parents got married the ONE thing my mom put her foot down about was that she WOULD NOT serve ANY kind of liver for dinner.

At first I thought this meant at the wedding and I wondered why liver was even an option for wedding food.

I'm not a huge SPAM fan, but a SPAM scramble doesn't sound that bad.  I'd much rather eat that than liver.

[ShutUpLutz]

14 minutes ago, janie jones said:

At first I thought this meant at the wedding and I wondered why liver was even an option for wedding food.

I'm not a huge SPAM fan, but a SPAM scramble doesn't sound that bad.  I'd much rather eat that than liver.

My parents eloped and were married by the lady sheriff in Rockville, MD on Valentine's Day. COULD IT GET MORE ROMANTIC? I THINK NOT. 

Or maybe it could. They wanted to have a wedding but my mom was Catholic and my dad....was NOT. And while they weren't living in Northern Ireland, it was still a time in the United States when marrying outside of your religion was "not done/cause for a freak out/got you written out of the will" in some quarters. My parents went to see Poppa and Mum who were living on Nantucket, (mom's 'rents) and Poppa was not quite ecstatic but really thrilled and was talking about how they could have the wedding in the backyard, which would have been pretty awesome.

Except, Mum had a sit down with my dad and said, "Why do you want to marry my daughter?"

Well, DUH. 

But my dad is not nearly as much of a smartass as I am so he said, "Because I care about and love your daughter very, very much and we want to spend the rest of our lives together."

Which, let's be honest is simultaneously cliched as hell yet also quite  "Awwwwwwww." But it wasn't the answer Mum wanted to hear because she said, "Well, why can't you find one of your own kind (meaning a non-Catholic) and marry her?"

And that was that.

My parents eloped and as for living happily ever after, well, you get to a certain age and you look back on your parents life and what you've observed and what you've heard and things turn out not at all like you thought. But in case you were wondering, no my mom wasn't written out of the will, in fact Mum apologized to my dad profusely and they had a pretty good relationship.

[ShutUpLutz]

On 9/24/2018 at 11:14 PM, Prevailing Wind said:

Y'know what annoys me about those Beg-A-Thons on PBS?  They're always saying it's our donations that enable them to "bring you wonderful programs, like this one..."  But the only time they show those "wonderful programs" is when they can interrupt them for a pledge break. I'd like to see one of those "wonderful programs" without the ads, please.  And, yes, I donate to PBS; I'm not looking for a free ride.

That's interesting. I know over the past year the pledge drive revolved around a program on the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper, which was pretty interesting but you need a fair bit of musical knowledge to really appreciate/like it. But aside from that pledge drives around here, the programming is actual music videos, straight from MTV and stuff like "Remember those pop singers from when you were a teenager in the 1950's and '60s? Well, SOME of them are still around and boy do they need money so we threw together a concert featuring them." I can't believe that ANYONE ever had any interest in hearing or seeing Patti Page sing, "How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?"

[ShutUpLutz]

4 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Bringing the icky food/picky eater discussion here: Occasionally, my mom would make what she called "Economy Meals" - I think she got the name from some women's magazine in the 50s. Her favorite was scrambled eggs with chunks of SPAM all in the same frying pan. I, like most sentient beings, hated it. One time, I absolutely refused to eat it. She made me sit at the table until I ate it. Meanwhile, Dad & my brother were watching TV in the living room & laughing theirs heads off. I was missing the fun.  I made a deal with Mom. "I'll eat this now, if you promise to NEVER, EVER make it again." She agreed!  I ate & got to go watch TV; she never made it again. I think that up to a point, she remembered her promise, but after a while, forgot it was ever in her repertoire.  Lucky me!!!!

Thinking back to when I was growing up, it was kind of a big deal for us to go out to eat, usually every Friday night we'd go over to Rockville Mall and go to Roy Rogers and then Howard Johnsons for ice cream. It's not that it was a special occasion or treat or anything like that we just didn't do fast food. And at home, I remember having tuna noodle/chicken casserole/creamed chip beef*/fish fairly often. Other nights we'd have grilled cheese sandwiches and soup as well as burgers and hot dogs. Looking at it now, it's clear that we ate that way to build up and save money. Not that we were poor, we were solidly middle class, it just wasn't like today where you have a flat screen TV in every room and every family member including the dog has a smart/cell phone that each costs $500, not to mention all the other technological bullshit that seems to be must have these days.

 

*I chose to have creamed chip beef on toast one year as my birthday dinner. My brother was not pleased with my choice.

[CertainJewel]

8 hours ago, ShutUpLutz said:

S'mores are THE WORST. I will brook no truck with that statement.

First of all you're out in the woods around a campfire, which means you are surrounded by mosquitos and ticks and poison oak/ivy and bears and mountain lions and NO AIR CONDITIONING and NO RUNNING/HOT WATER. 

Are you kidding me?

Then inevitably your s'mores fall into the fire or the marshmallow starts burning or ends up partially burned and then tastes horrible*, it's always a cluster fuck.

And even though you didn't ask, no I didn't enjoy my time in Boy Scouts all that much. What's that, we're gonna march up and down the C&O canal all weekend carrying 40 lb backpacks and camp out on extremely rocky terrain and I don't even get a merit badge out of it? SIGN ME UP!!!

*I would say it tastes like ass, but I've never nor do I plan to ever eat anyone's ass so I shan't use that descriptor.

I laughed so hard.....I don't like smores but if you'll make one for me I'd at least eat the chocolate. Would be a shame for it to go to waste. 

[Browncoat]

S'mores are great!  As long as there's no graham cracker or marshmallow, and you use decent (i.e. not Hershey's) chocolate.  So, yeah, just the chocolate for me, thanks!

[jennblevins]

I like all the ingredients for s’mores. Separately. I don’t care for them together. Fortunately, I’ve never run into the s’mores police — nobody really cares if you eat the components separately. 

[ShutUpLutz]

Plain or regular graham crackers are garbage.

Now if you cover them with cinnamon, THAT is a different story. I would literally eat an entire box of cinnamon graham crackers when I came home from school growing up. And my dad liked to sprinkle them on ice cream and he'd get the ice cream out, slap it in a bowl then go to the pantry and then, "Hey! Where'd the graham crackers* go?!? Didn't we just get some YESTERDAY?!!" in this mildly outraged/hurt tone.

Never caught on that it was me scarfing them down

*Yes, yes I know, in our family we referred to cinnamon graham crackers as graham crackers because those were the ONLY kind we ever got.

[mmecorday]

"Oh, those Golden Grahams. Oh, those Golden Grahams!" :D

I was a very picky eater when I was growing up. I got over it when I started cooking for myself. I pretty much am open to eating just about anything except pineapple. I will drink pineapple juice, the flavor is not the problem. It's the texture that sets my teeth on edge.

[LoneHaranguer]

13 hours ago, Annber03 said:

I've never had liver, either. I think my mom had to have it when she was a kid and she wasn't big on it, either.

My mother would cook liver and I remember it taking some time and effort. I didn't pay attention, but google suggests that soaking it in milk for a while is critical to the taste. Burying it in onions and/or the right sauces probably works too.

[funky-rat]

50 minutes ago, LoneHaranguer said:

My mother would cook liver and I remember it taking some time and effort. I didn't pay attention, but google suggests that soaking it in milk for a while is critical to the taste. Burying it in onions and/or the right sauces probably works too.

I like it sliced as thin as possible.  Yes, you soak it in milk to pull out any excess blood, and that kind of mineral-y taste.  Then I dredge in a mixture of flower, salt, and pepper, and fry in butter.  My husband doesn't like onion, so I skip that.  You can also fry in bacon fat.

[peacheslatour]

My mom and I both hated liver so once in a while she would make liver and onions for my dad, she would have oysters and she would make me a pork chop.

[Bastet]

My dad likes liver and onions, so my mom - who'd never tried it - made it once using his mother's recipe, declared it disgusting, and said if he wanted it again, he'd have to make it for himself.  My dad can't cook for shit, so that wasn't happening.  When my mom was in hospital for surgery, a friend of hers - knowing the liver and onions history - made it for my dad and me, but I didn't like it.  It smelled good, but I did not like it.  I don't remember if it was taste, texture, or both; I was only six or seven so it's a very faded memory.  I should have my dad over and make it to see if I like it as an adult.

[Brattinella]

3 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I should have my dad over and make it to see if I like it as an adult.

Liver and onions (and bacon) was in the rotation at my house as a child.  I was required to taste it.  I found it revolting in the extreme, smell, texture and taste.  Over the years, I periodically tasted it again, and found it exactly the same.  I hope you find it more to your liking now. :)

[QuinnInND]

21 hours ago, ShutUpLutz said:

 

That...fuck...that sucks. Was it because you had some medical/digestive issue or is it a family thing you'd rather not drag out into the light here?

My stepfather was a bastard coated bastard with bastard filling. He hated me. If it was up to him, I wouldn't have had any food at all. I was a waste of time. No pictures of me or anything. The only thing I was good for in his opinion was to be beaten and sexual assaulted and abused. Which he did from the as long ago as I can remember, until I left home at 14.  

[Brattinella]

11 minutes ago, QuinnInND said:

My stepfather was a bastard coated bastard with bastard filling. He hated me. If it was up to him, I wouldn't have had any food at all. I was a waste of time. No pictures of me or anything. The only thing I was good for in his opinion was to be beaten and sexual assaulted and abused. Which he did from the as long ago as I can remember, until I left home at 14.  

I am so sorry you went through that! :(

[QuinnInND]

13 minutes ago, Brattinella said:

I am so sorry you went through that! :(

Thank you. It's taken a long time, but I'm able to talk about it now. 

[bilgistic]

1 minute ago, QuinnInND said:

Thank you. It's taken a long time, but I'm able to talk about it now. 

Sending you love and light, @QuinnInND. Take extra good care of yourself today.

[Prevailing Wind]

9 hours ago, jennblevins said:

I like all the ingredients for s’mores. Separately. I don’t care for them together. Fortunately, I’ve never run into the s’mores police — nobody really cares if you eat the components separately. 

I was at a "gathering" once of X-Philes. One of the producers was there. He told an interesting story ... they did an episode in the first season where a family was out camping in a travel trailer. They told the production/props guys to get ingredients for S'mores to put on the camper's table. The Canadian crew didn't know what they meant, so it was explained - marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers.  They must've thought "graham crackers" was some weird Americanism, because they came back with marshmallows, chocolate bars, and saltines.

[QuinnInND]

4 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

Sending you love and light, @QuinnInND. Take extra good care of yourself today.

Thank you. ?  

[Jaded]

These newest Subaru commercials with the dogs and puppies really get my cat's attention when they come on. He doesn't go up to the TV or anything but he'll wake up out of a sound sleep when he hears the dog noises. I got him when he was estimated to be three years old so I'm not sure if the dog sounds get his attention for good or bad reasons.

[QuinnInND]

My doxie responds to that ad too.  She acts like she wants to go join them. 

[mmecorday]

I have often scoffed at the disclaimers in commercials for prescription drugs that warn about telling your doctor if your on X medication, thinking that a doctor would already know what medications you were on because this is the 21st century and everything in automated, right? Wrong! I am so pissed right now because my girlfriend's asthma has kicked into high gear here lately. I thought it was just autumnal allergies at play, but when she came home from work with a swollen face and shortness of breath, it appeared she was having a reaction to something. I gave her a Benadryl and some caffeine. She didn't want to go to the ER and I monitored her over the next few hours. Her breathing improved and the swelling went down. Tonight as she was going off to her second job, she asked me to Google interactions with asthma and Naproxen. She had been prescribed 1000 mg of the drug daily for her plantar fasciitis -- incurred from working two jobs that require her to be on her feet at all times. She has taken prescription Naproxen for aches and pains, but never at this strength. Turns out, there is a connection between Naproxen use and worsening asthma symptoms. I feel like I should have known what was going on. My allergies have been horrible lately so I just thought that it was something in the air.

[chessiegal]

We have a friend who was seeing between 3 and 5 different doctors (internist, shrink, specialists). None knew what the other prescribed, and was on at least 20 meds that started interacting with terrible side effects. His wife got him to a new doctor and presented all his meds. The new doc was horrified and got him straightened out.

[Browncoat]

Your doctor also won’t know what over-the-counter meds you might be taking, and those can have bad interactions with prescribed meds, too.  Or possible accidental overdose if you take the name brand OTC, and its generic counterpart by prescription.

[Prevailing Wind]

Being old, I now have a huge list of drugs/supplements, their strengths, and frequency of dosage. I keep it on my hard drive, update it the day before I go to the doctor, and then take it with me. I find it amusing how many times the front desk people want to give the list back to me, as though it's the only copy I have.  But I'm lucky that I go to practices that are affiliated with the nearby hospital - all their computers are linked, so they all have the same info on the drugs, my history, etc. NOW if I could only get the docs to READ the history...

[frenchtoast]

11 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

NOW if I could only get the docs to READ the history...

My 12 yo daughter had tonsil and adenoid removal surgery in February. She suffered the complication of bleeding and ended up vomiting a liter of blood at the ER. (We were aware of the possibility, had called surgeon when she vomited a little blood and went to ER per her instructions) The ER team was wonderful--even if the nurse hadn't been helping us, she took care of the situation and listened to us. They knew what she was in for, they were talking with surgeon, the lines of communication were clear. (The ER doc was definitely concerned after she vomited all that blood and made sure to let us know that we were monitoring and everything was ready should it be needed. It's the model for keeping patients calm but informed and also definitely cared for) Love that hospital and it's five minutes from the house. 

However, they do not admit pediatric patients. Sigh. So after she had her second surgery to close off the bleeder, we had to be transported to another hospital. It happened to be a children's hospital. She had lost a lot of blood and they were close to thinking she needed a transfusion. Because she had lost so much blood, she was quite anemic. Despite the fact that we were at a children's hospital, and even though it was on her record that she'd had tonsil removal surgery, we were told three effing times that she needed to take an iron pill. The second and third times were after we reminded the doc/nurses that she was supposed to get some iron. And each time we asked if it could be put in her IV. Nope. no can do. Instead, the solution was for a kid who just had her tonsils removed and a second surgery hours ago to  swallow one of those huge iron pills. NO! She can't! Are you not reading what she's in here for?!? She can't swallow solid food right now. It has to be liquid. WTF is wrong with you people? Then it was, well, she has to eat something when her surgeon was fine with just getting liquids in. And they bring up dry chicken and dry mashed potatoes. We finally pitched a fit and demanded to know what the fuck was going on and what metric she would need to be released because apparently they had never had a kid with tonsil surgery in a fucking children's hospital. 

It was one of the worst experiences I've ever had and it could have been handled better if the nurses/doctors actually read the chart and actually listened to us. God, it makes me angry to this day. 

On the plus side, it got her over her fear of needles because she had so many tests and the IV hook-up. And she ended up having to take iron pills--six weeks after the surgery. We tried liquid iron, but she gagged/vomited a little on the second day and I stopped. Her regular doctor agreed that it was better she rest and recover and eat what she could and not vomit/gag. After 3 months her iron levels were fine. And she can now swallow pills where she couldn't before. Just not 6 hours after tonsil surgery, assholes.

[funky-rat]

On ‎10‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 8:47 AM, frenchtoast said:

My 12 yo daughter had tonsil and adenoid removal surgery in February. She suffered the complication of bleeding and ended up vomiting a liter of blood at the ER. (We were aware of the possibility, had called surgeon when she vomited a little blood and went to ER per her instructions) The ER team was wonderful--even if the nurse hadn't been helping us, she took care of the situation and listened to us. They knew what she was in for, they were talking with surgeon, the lines of communication were clear. (The ER doc was definitely concerned after she vomited all that blood and made sure to let us know that we were monitoring and everything was ready should it be needed. It's the model for keeping patients calm but informed and also definitely cared for) Love that hospital and it's five minutes from the house. 

However, they do not admit pediatric patients. Sigh. So after she had her second surgery to close off the bleeder, we had to be transported to another hospital. It happened to be a children's hospital. She had lost a lot of blood and they were close to thinking she needed a transfusion. Because she had lost so much blood, she was quite anemic. Despite the fact that we were at a children's hospital, and even though it was on her record that she'd had tonsil removal surgery, we were told three effing times that she needed to take an iron pill. The second and third times were after we reminded the doc/nurses that she was supposed to get some iron. And each time we asked if it could be put in her IV. Nope. no can do. Instead, the solution was for a kid who just had her tonsils removed and a second surgery hours ago to  swallow one of those huge iron pills. NO! She can't! Are you not reading what she's in here for?!? She can't swallow solid food right now. It has to be liquid. WTF is wrong with you people? Then it was, well, she has to eat something when her surgeon was fine with just getting liquids in. And they bring up dry chicken and dry mashed potatoes. We finally pitched a fit and demanded to know what the fuck was going on and what metric she would need to be released because apparently they had never had a kid with tonsil surgery in a fucking children's hospital. 

It was one of the worst experiences I've ever had and it could have been handled better if the nurses/doctors actually read the chart and actually listened to us. God, it makes me angry to this day. 

On the plus side, it got her over her fear of needles because she had so many tests and the IV hook-up. And she ended up having to take iron pills--six weeks after the surgery. We tried liquid iron, but she gagged/vomited a little on the second day and I stopped. Her regular doctor agreed that it was better she rest and recover and eat what she could and not vomit/gag. After 3 months her iron levels were fine. And she can now swallow pills where she couldn't before. Just not 6 hours after tonsil surgery, assholes.

A few years ago, and ENT I went to for a clogged ear asked me why I was huffing and out of breath walking to her office.  I told her I didn't realize I was doing that, but looking back, I had other people ask me if I was OK, and I didn't understand why.  I am overweight, and I had a dietician give me "tough love" once by saying I was out of breath getting to her office, and I didn't understand, and was understandably humiliated.  This ENT told me that I had bad polyps in my nose and wanted to schedule surgery.  I declined, and did some research, and went for a 2nd opinion to a doctor I'd been to before (and other members of my family) and I trusted (he hadn't had room to take me the day I needed to see someone - I was heading on vacation the next day and needed to be seen that day).  He told me that I had zero polyps, but extremely bad scar tissue, and he didn't want to treat it as he'd never seen it that bad, so I got sent to a specialist ENT - I had a total of about 2% open space in my nose - one nostril was completely blocked, so I had been mouth breathing and not even realizing it, hence the constant commentary from people.  He feared auto-immune disease, so I got sent for a battery of tests, all of which were negative, but the auto-immune people asked me at least 10 times if I did cocaine, and kept telling me I had coke nose, and told me that it was OK - they wouldn't call the cops, then got really nasty about it until they finally relented.  I kept telling them to hair follicle or blood test me and it would come back squeaky clean.

So I get scheduled for surgery so they can go in and essentially Rotor-Rooter my nasal passages and remove scar tissue so I can breathe again.  The morning I go in, I'm told to take nothing but my acid reflux meds with a sip of water.  DO NOT take my diabetes meds.  I have had great experiences at this hospital, but I get a jerk anesthesiologist, who refuses to do anything until they check my blood sugar.  It's a bit high - around 205.  But I hadn't taken my meds, I hadn't eaten, I was nervous, I was tired, and I have somyogi effect (meaning I get a liver dump around 3am and fasting sugar is always higher than normal).  I tell him all of this.  He won't budge.  Demands I be given a shot of insulin.  I am not insulin dependent and I argue.  Nope. He won't budge.  Doctor comes out and says it's a short surgery - about 10 minutes (but I'm given General Anesthesia so I will be perfectly still) - so it should be OK.  Wrong.  Surgery took almost an hour because the scarring is just that bad.  Blood sugar crashed on the table, thanks to the insulin.  I have to be intubated due to a complicated airway for any surgery that uses general anesthesia, so I woke up to an extremely sore throat because the tube was pulled out fast, and them demanding I eat Cheerios NOW.  Then I'm told to eat more Cheerios in recovery.  Very quickly, I notice my throat is extremely sore.  A few weeks later, it's still bad. Turns out I developed a cyst thanks to the anesthesiologists bad decision.  My family doctor and my sleep medicine doctor are LIVID.  They both send nastygram to hospital anesthesia department saying that temporary high blood sugar is nothing compared to the dangers of low blood sugar (which will kill you), and they should know this, and I should not have been ignored.  Specialist ENT apologizes to me, and wants me to have more surgery to cut the cyst off.  Sleep med doctor says absolutely not.  I would have to be completely silent for 2-3 weeks after surgery.  Not a peep.  And the cyst could recur.  And there's a good chance I could paralyze or damage a vocal cord.  No thanks.  I can't sing much anymore, and when the cyst acts up, I go a bit hoarse, but I can deal.  I just don't understand why some medical personnel will refuse to listen to people who know their history, and it all could be checked fairly easily.

ETA: they never did conclusively figure out the scar tissue origin.  It's presumed to be night time posterior (down the throat, not out the front) nose bleeds.  I would occasionally wake up with dried blood on my lips and teeth, so it's possible.  I have to be really careful about nosebleeds now, however.  I had a horrible one once at work that didn't want to stop.  They called the ambulance, and my specialist ENT took me on an emergency basis.  I had to have the nose cauterized.  I still have a photo of the blood clot that was so big it came out in 2 chunks.  

Edited October 2, 2018 by funky-rat

[Jamoche]

On 10/1/2018 at 3:06 AM, Browncoat said:

Your doctor also won’t know what over-the-counter meds you might be taking, and those can have bad interactions with prescribed meds, too.  Or possible accidental overdose if you take the name brand OTC, and its generic counterpart by prescription.

Or grapefruit - it interacts with statins, whatever they are.

[janie jones]

14 hours ago, funky-rat said:

ETA: they never did conclusively figure out the scar tissue origin.  It's presumed to be night time posterior (down the throat, not out the front) nose bleeds.  I would occasionally wake up with dried blood on my lips and teeth, so it's possible.  I have to be really careful about nosebleeds now, however.  I had a horrible one once at work that didn't want to stop.  They called the ambulance, and my specialist ENT took me on an emergency basis.  I had to have the nose cauterized.  I still have a photo of the blood clot that was so big it came out in 2 chunks.  

While I was reading your story I was wondering if you had what my sister had.  She had regular nosebleeds (I don't remember how often, since I was a kid, but it was definitely more than normal) for a while and when my parents finally brought her to the doctor they found ulcers up there.  So they cauterized it and as far as I know hasn't had a nosebleed since.

[QuinnInND]

12 hours ago, Jamoche said:

Or grapefruit - it interacts with statins, whatever they are.

Statins are to help lower cholesterol. 

[funky-rat]

On ‎10‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 12:59 AM, Jamoche said:

Or grapefruit - it interacts with statins, whatever they are.

It also interferes with some diabetes meds.  My doctors always want to know everything I'm taking, including vitamins, probiotics, OTC stuff on a regular basis, etc.

[ShutUpLutz]

On 9/30/2018 at 11:09 PM, chessiegal said:

We have a friend who was seeing between 3 and 5 different doctors (internist, shrink, specialists). None knew what the other prescribed, and was on at least 20 meds that started interacting with terrible side effects. His wife got him to a new doctor and presented all his meds. The new doc was horrified and got him straightened out.

I don't understand this at all.

AT. ALL.

It's COMMON SENSE that you tell ALL your doctors what meds you take, hell I have it WRITTEN DOWN AND KEEP THE LIST IN MY WALLET. Your doctors can't read your mind and they have enough to try and deal with re patients LYING about whether or not they use drugs (pot/cocaine.)

On 9/30/2018 at 10:57 PM, mmecorday said:

I have often scoffed at the disclaimers in commercials for prescription drugs that warn about telling your doctor if your on X medication, thinking that a doctor would already know what medications you were on because this is the 21st century and everything in automated, right? Wrong!

So you are actually blaming the doctor because they can't read your mind? And how exactly is this automation supposed to work? Do you seriously think every doctor and every pharmacy in the country is connected through the Internet? They aren't and that's a good thing.

[Moose135]

3 hours ago, ShutUpLutz said:

It's COMMON SENSE that you tell ALL your doctors what meds you take, hell I have it WRITTEN DOWN AND KEEP THE LIST IN MY WALLET.

I do the same, and I have a copy on my iPhone.  But in the past year or so, I saw several other doctors besides my primary care physician - cardiologist, ENT, ophthalmologist - and at each office, the first thing they did was take a medical history, including asking about any medications I was taking.  And after the cardiologist visit (nothing wrong, just at that age and had never been) my PCP asked about the visit, and asked if he prescribed me any other meds.  I assumed all doctors would do that.

[janie jones]

Every doctor I've gone to in recent memory has done that, or at least the nurse has -- it seems like they're required to ask about everything before even discussing what you're there for.  And that's me going to the same clinic with my same record, so they have the same information as the last time.  But if they don't, it's the patient's responsibility to mention any medications.  Hell, I was prescribed an anti-nausea medication and when I got a headache weeks later, I asked a doctor friend if I could take it with ibuprofen.

[Bort]

3 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Girls got ugly one-piece suits (there was a girl's gym and a boy's gym, with separate pools, in separate buildings).

My school district had no pool at all. We practiced at some neighborhood pool. With two other high schools.

[mmecorday]

Quote

So you are actually blaming the doctor because they can't read your mind? And how exactly is this automation supposed to work? Do you seriously think every doctor and every pharmacy in the country is connected through the Internet? They aren't and that's a good thing.

No, but I would expect someone who went to medical school to be able to read a patient's chart.

[Bort]

1 minute ago, mmecorday said:

No, but I would expect someone who went to medical school to be able to read a patient's chart.

But if the meds are prescribed from a different doctor, it's not going to be on the chart. That's where the patient needs to make sure they disclose all their meds.

[Brattinella]

1 hour ago, mmecorday said:

No, but I would expect someone who went to medical school to be able to read a patient's chart.

That is a real problem if they can't, or don't because they are too busy or whatever.  That is their JOB.    Meds are in the chart, too.  You are right, the patient has to disclose they have another doctor and more meds.  This is avoided if, like me, you only have one doctor.

Edited October 9, 2018 by Brattinella

[bilgistic]

Regarding the boy who had a curved penis that the other boys noticed in gym class...one generally doesn't notice the curvature unless the penis is erect, so again...how did y'all know his penis was curved?

[Tom Holmberg]

19 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

how did y'all know his penis was curved?

In flaccid penises, there's the "shrinkage" kinds of penises and the dangling kinds of penises.

[Brattinella]

1 hour ago, Tom Holmberg said:

In flaccid penises, there's the "shrinkage" kinds of penises and the dangling kinds of penises.

Penises are some peculiar things.

[Bastet]

[bilgistic]

3 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

In flaccid penises, there's the "shrinkage" kinds of penises and the dangling kinds of penises.

I know that, having seen my share of penises. But...how long was this penis for there to be noticeable curvature?! (Yes, I'm grossed out that we're talking about a kid.) I mean...even if an adult penis is a show-er rather than a grow-er, we're still talking about an average six inches. It's not like it's making a hard right angle. I dated a guy that had a right curvature but it wasn't noticeable unless he was erect. He was fairly well-endowed. Somehow his friends knew about it, but I don't know if he told them or they saw it, which...I have many questions that I should've asked back then.

I'm just really confused as to why 1) this kid was naked long enough for multiple boys to evaluate his penis, and 2) multiple boys spent time evaluating and discussing his penis.

I guess it goes without saying that I don't understand the behavior of males.

[Tom Holmberg]

14 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I'm just really confused as to why 1) this kid was naked long enough for multiple boys to evaluate his penis, and 2) multiple boys spent time evaluating and discussing his penis.

How long does a gym shower last? Junior high boys are going to make fun of anything that makes one kid stand out (so to speak). And though they won't admit it, they are all comparing themselves with everyone else. I don't remember that much about it, at this late date, other than there was enough of a curve to get him a nickname. Everybody else was just glad they weren't getting a nickname!  (Another kid got the nickname "Cheerio", but I don't even want to go into that.)

Edited October 10, 2018 by Tom Holmberg

[janie jones]

2 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

 And though they won't admit it, they are all comparing themselves with everyone else.

Isn't pointing out the curvature of another kid's penis tantamount to saying, "Hey, I was looking at your dick!"  I would have guessed that dick-looking would not be kosher among adolescent boys, presumably the majority of whom are heterosexual.

[funky-rat]

On ‎10‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 8:57 AM, kariyaki said:

My school district had no pool at all. We practiced at some neighborhood pool. With two other high schools.

We didn't either - only one of the schools in our vicinity had a pool, and that was one they shared with the public.  The local community pool did a swim team every summer that anyone residing in the county could be in.  The kids who were really good swimmers and who competed on "private" swim teams (ie: YMCA, etc) and who went to schools that didn't have pools (all but 1 school in a 30 mile radius) and wanted to be eligible for the state level competitions that would get them noticed by college recruiters all banded together for a co-op swim team that traveled to various schools for competition.  I always found it funny we sent several swimmers to state level competition and we didn't have a swim team.

Edited October 10, 2018 by funky-rat

[Tom Holmberg]

40 minutes ago, janie jones said:

I would have guessed that dick-looking would not be kosher among adolescent boys, presumably the majority of whom are heterosexual.

Someone needs to make a movie, "Mean Boys."

[mojoween]

Someone back a few pages mentioned not wanting to drive in New York City ( @funky-rat , maybe?).

I live in Syracuse and we drive through Pennsylvania and to Secaucus Junction train station in Jersey because no way in hell am I ever going to drive in Manhattan.  The trains from Secaucus run every 15 minutes or so to Penn Station and from there you are basically a subway ride away from wherever you want to go.  A party bus would be a good idea too, but you’re probably going to be stuck in traffic for a lot of the time.  (We once took a taxi from the UN to Penn Station and I wasn’t sure we were going to make it there in one piece.  Also the driver got within a block, on the other side of the street, and said “well I’m not going to be able to get closer so out you go!”)

The only quibble I have is that the trip back from Penn Station to Secaucus is not handled well.  Saturday we went to see Nine Inch Nails at Radio City (I highly recommend it!) and by the time we got out of the concert and got to Penn Station, it was around midnight.  And everyone in lower Manhattan wanted to take the train to Secaucus.  And the person who handles the departure board doesn’t like to put the track number the next train is leaving from on the board until ten minutes before the train is departing.  So everyone is crowded around the board, and then they make a mad dash to the track and fight to get out.  

I love everything about NYC except for the trip from Penn Station to Jersey.

Someone also mentioned not getting fast food a lot when they were younger, and one of my fondest memories is on payday Friday’s, my dad would occasionally bring us home some chicken nuggets when they were relatively new.  I actually think McDonald’s nuggets are beyond foul now, but I loved them when I was like ten.

This Thursday is my dad’s birthday, and it’s my first without him.  He was killed instantly in his car by a shitty inattentive  speeding driver on December 21st last year.  It’s amazing how grief works because occasionally it will just hit me that he’s not at his house, and it pisses me off.  It’s so hard doing the year of firsts (first Christmas, first family member’s birthdays, first Father’s Day) but the one that hit me hardest so far was on my wedding anniversary, when I received a card in the mail like we have every year, and it was signed by only my mom, and that was the first card I had received since the accident.  My husband could not figure out why reading a card was making me sob and I couldn’t get my breath enough to tell him, so I just thrust the card at him and pointed at the signature and wheezed out that I wish my mom had written “Love Mom and Dad” and not just “Love Mom.”

Sorry.  I didn’t mean to make this take such a maudlin turn.  Like I said, grief sneaks up on you.  And the suddenness of his death is what makes it worse (my mom still has the half-drunk soda he had set to the side before he left the house that day next to his chair and the page-a-day calendar on his table is still on December 21).

[chessiegal]

Oh, mojoween,  I'm so sorry for your loss. I lost my Mom in a car accident when I was 23. Yes, the grief can creep up on you.

As far as taxi drivers in NYC go, 3 years ago we took the train to Penn Station for our 1st crossing on the Queen Mary 2, which leaves from Brooklyn. We took a taxi, and the driver drove like a maniac, like they all do, and he ended up getting into an accident! Nothing serious, but what an annoyance.